Black Cherries
by Ri-Ryn
Summary: I was in love with him till he shattered my world; him, getting married? Who am I kidding? I might love him till death, mine that is. So, it doesn't matter who I marry; it won't be out of love, your Father was the same way. Do you hate your parents, my precious little girls? Because, you certainly weren't born by our love for each other since there isn't any. Fem27x100
1. Dawn to Dusk

**Title:** Black Cherries

**Author:** Ri-Ryn

**Genre:** Angst/Drama

**Word Count:** 1027

**Rating:** M* (Content suitable for Mature Teens) / +T

**Disclaimer:** Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira Amano.

**Summary:** I was in love with him till he shattered my world; him, getting married? Who am I kidding? I might love him till death, mine that is. So, it doesn't matter who _**I **_marry; it won't be out of love, your Father was the same way. Do you hate your parents, my precious little girls? Because, you certainly weren't born by our love for each other since there isn't any. The future is unpredictable, though.

**Warnings:** Severe language and curse words.

**Chapter:** Dawn to Dusk

**A/N:** Pairings in this story include Fem27x100 (Female Tsunari x Byakuran) and Gokudera x Haru. Keep in mind; this is sort of like 10 years later for the most part. Her name is spelled like this -つなり and means 'One Will'. Ironic now, ne? This story isn't going to be a "happy" romance story, but rather angst, dark, depressing. I also want to start out; Tsunari isn't obsessed with Gokudera in an unhealthy way. Yes, it will affect her, A LOT, but she really did love Gokudera, and to have him so abruptly pulled from her reach? It hurt her quite a bit, considering who it was with; then, she decides to wait and not ruin their happiness by her confession. She never gave herself the chance to let go and heal from the heartbreak. Towards the end of this story, the relationship between Tsunari and Byakuran will become more 'real.' Sorry this is so short; it's a prologue of sorts until I finish really developing the story, and even then this story will probably be sporadically updated. Enjoy~

_I'm not really positive _when _I fell in love with him. I could list all the reasons _why_, though. He was loyal, kind to me, devoted, he would have given his everything for me, but it isn't all about me. No, he gave his _everything _for the family. You could rely on him, trust him, he had your back, he was intelligent, a strategist (still is just about each of these qualities, but aspects of them changed), and so very, very much more._

_And then? Then there was her, one of my first and best female friends. She still is except I'll admit I've thought more than once about __breaking__ her._

_I haven't, can't bring myself to do it to her, but mostly I could never to do that to __**him**__._

_Never._

_If someone other than that man, my husband, were to hear me, I would be considered crazy: insane. What I feel isn't healthy but it lets me carry on, and that will be enough for me for a long time. You find it wrong; I find it my niche._

_My husband is the exact same way. He wants the one thing he can never have, that he let slip through his grasp. I suppose a crucial difference worth mentioning would be that she knows._

_Little, gentle Yuni._

_The moron already 'killed' her once. Too bad he didn't realize he was in love with her earlier, would've saved us both the grief and darkness._

_Then the whole marriage thing: incident; event. Both of them are married, __**Yuni**__ to Gamma, __**Hayato**__ to Haru._

_We both detest it, yet my husband made Yuni and Gamma our daughters' godparents on his side. He's a sucker for torcher. I, on the other hand, made sure no one knew of my marriage nor my children. Only their godparents, Mukuro and Chrome, know. It sounds like a weird choice if you don't understand the reasoning because I sure as hell didn't make it public._

_Then, one of the truly more detestable points of this entire scandal, what we named our twin girls. Who names their children after the person they're in love with? Especially considering their parents aren't talking about each other, but another person's spouse._

_Wakana's name represents all that Hayato is. He is harmony, the one that could calm me, music, a fundamental part of his being, and finally complete, he found his soul mate and married her and doesn't need anything or anyone else. Until he has children, God only knows how I'll adapt to that: the product of love between him and another woman._

_Hiroko, the hubbie's successor, name means magnanimous: noble-spirited, very generous, kind, or forgiving. I distinctly remember in all of my meetings with other family heads this word following Yuni's name around like a curse. I wonder sometimes who made it more obvious to the world, our distaste for each other. _

_Wakana Gesso and Hiroko Gesso: the advocate and embodiment of their parents' lost cause love._

_In my life, many things were._

_Now things are._

_My name was Tsunari Sawada._

_My name is Tsunari Gesso._

…_and I married a man name Byakuran Gesso, had two children by him,_

_and might fall in love with him without feeling a thing…_

…_or not._

Tsunari jolted at the small tugs she felt on her arms and looks over to her right and left, seeing Wakana and Hiroko. She humored the nine year olds, "Hm?"

Gorgeous eyes held curiosity: beautiful irises with dark brown on the outer edge before quickly fading into their Father's characteristic purple hue. Snow white hair stuck out here and there but was mostly tamed and soft as feathers. "How did you and Father meet?" Their voices were identical and their unmarred faces held a replica of Byakuran's tattoo. Hiroko's was under the same eye as her father's while Wakana had it under the opposite eye.

"Do you want it to be a happy story?" she asked cryptically. Confusion answered her before she clarified, "Because then I would have to lie. Or, I can tell you how we 'met', and that isn't a very appropriate story for you two, not right now." _Not ever._

She miscalculated, these two were _their_ children. It should have been obvious they would choose the difficult path. "We want to know the truth."

Tsunari frowned slightly before picking up the two children and sitting them on her lap, one on each thigh, and gave them a kiss on the fore head.

She could feel him creep up behind her before embracing her from the back of her large, black leather arm chair. The three females looked up to see Byakuran. "Are your telling a story, Tsu-koi?"

Tsunari gave a nod, "I am. They want to know how we met."

"Will it be a pleasant tale? They are rather young," his smile shrunk as he opened his normally grinning eyes.

The brown irises of his wife lost the shine in them. "They want to hear the truth."

The white haired man hummed in reply. "I see; well, I can help then, but why don't you start?"

The brunette smiled before looking to her offspring. She began, "_I was in love with him till he shattered my world; him, getting married? Who am I kidding? I might love him till death, mine that is. So, it doesn't matter who __**I **__marry; it won't be out of love_, your Father was the same way." Tsunari shook her head in shame, eyes closed bitterly until she met her daughter's eyes to continue.

"Do you hate your parents, my precious little girls?" They both replied with a cheerful chirp of 'no.'

"Because, you certainly weren't born by our love for each other since there isn't any. The future is unpredictable, though."

Byakuran's hand squeezed her shoulder in silent support as his violet eyes took on a reminiscent quality, "Her name was Yuni Giglio Nero, her maiden name that is."

"His name is Hayato Gokudera," was Tsunari's quiet confession.

From there, both spilt the tale of their interconnected closet filled to the brim with demons spawned in shadow, out of sight, and out of the light.


	2. Endorsing Apprehension

**Author:** Ri-Ryn

**Genre:** Angst/Drama

**Word Count:** 2,010

**Rating:** M* (Content suitable for Mature Teens) / +T

**Disclaimer:** Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira Amano.

**Warnings:** Severe language and curse words.

**Chapter:** Endorsing Apprehension

**A/N:** _**I HAVE A POLL ON MY PROFILE, YOU'RE ALLOWED UP TO 7 VOTES: Please Do So!**_ And here is the second chapter of Black Cherries. This chapter will focus on Tsunari being in love with Hayato. She will be 14-15 in this chapter, whatever age they were when they returned from fighting Byakuran in the future. Enjoy and a big thanks to the first two people who reviewed!

_Tsunari looked at a loss for what to say. "I probably acknowledged my feelings for him after fighting your Father in the future."_

_Wakana scrunched her face up in thought, "The future? You fought Father?" Byakuran chuckled from his place behind her chair._

_The mafia boss smiled gently, patting her daughter's hair, "Yes, but that's not where _my_ story begins."_

_Hiroko sighed with a pout at her parents' roundabout ways, "Then why would it be important to mention?"_

_The young woman clicked her tongue in slight agitation; every little thing had a question to follow it; she blamed the white haired thing standing behind her, his genes, their entire fault. "It was the key, opening, genesis, but most importantly," she placed a hand over her heart, "it made me acknowledge that my former right-hand man meant so much more to me. He was the right side of my heart and is none the wiser to this day. It's different of course, not so strong now, but that was only due to the incident about… Hmm? Seven, eight years ago? Regardless, I'll tell you when I get there."_

***Namimori***

It had been happening every day since they returned from the future – two months of this: Tsunari's heart would beat faster than it should, her cheeks would be redder than they should, and her breath would catch in her throat.

All of this at the sight of her right-hand man: Gokudera Hayato.

Tsunari would never deny that all of her guardians were good looking men. (Except for Lambo and Chrome) When she was with him, though, it was intoxicating. Don't misunderstand; she didn't just adore his exotic silver hair, his gray jade eyes, or his Italian featured face.

He was everything she wanted and needed, down from his loyalty to innate kindness to his good sense of judgment. Tsunari was smitten with him to her very core.

Waking up to him in the future, so sad and _broken_ at the sight of her, clutching her in a hug so tight she couldn't breathe. It hurt her and made her realize, '_I did this to him._'

She was in love. When he disappeared from in front of her coffin a few minutes ahead of his younger self, he had dropped a gorgeous gold locket. Inside was a picture she couldn't forget after her revelation moments before; it was of both of them. Gokudera had looked to have been reading when she interrupted him, sitting herself down between his legs while he was lounging in a lounge chair on the balcony. He was flushed red with his book and arms subtly flailing. And she? She was smiling serenely at the camera, leaning against her storm guardian's chest. Tsunari could tell her future self had expertly planned this moment to be caught on camera.

But she couldn't dismiss the jade eyes that reciprocated the love her own eyes held. It cemented her feelings for him into something impermeable: she wouldn't be able to forget this love by herself, only if he destroyed her world.

"Juudaihime!" Tsunari's head whipped to her right to see Gokudera running towards her, Yamamoto following behind him at a more sedate pace with his hands behind his head. "Yoh, Tsuna-chan!"

Tsunari smiled. "Yamamoto-kun," she gulped and glanced at the storm, "G-Go-Gokudera-kun…"

Gokudera brightened at her address to him before rounding on the rain, "Baseball-freak, how dare you call Juudaihime by her first name!"

Tsunari paled, running to grab the arm of her right-hand man and stop it from lighting the dynamite sticks he now held. "Gokudera-kun, it's alright!"

Gokudera glanced down, seeing her worried eyes and quickly hid his weapons before bowing. "I'm so sorry for worrying you Juudaihime, forgive me!"

Tsunari smiled placatingly, "Ne, Gokudera-kun." He stopped punishing himself to look at his boss. "You can call me Tsunari too; I don't mind." Okay, maybe she was moving a little fast, but what the hell? After having Reborn as a tutor, she really started to live life by his motto too, seeing the truth in it, especially when he said it to her right after they returned home.

'_If you're going to do something, dame-Tsunari, do it with your dying will.' Reborn tilted his head up, his coal black eyes focused on her from under the brim of his fedora, 'You did well against Byakuran. It seems not everything I've taught you has gone to waste if this is going to be how you live your life from now onwards. You might just make an excellent mafia boss yet.'_

_Tsunari had smiled until the baby hitman smirked and continued, 'So, that locket in your hands, you gonna' make it happen, too?'_

'_HHHHIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEE!'_

"That would be most unacceptable for I am only your right-hand man!" The mafia heiress frowned, such a typical answer, maybe she could…no, ordering him wouldn't do anything.

"Fine," she muttered, a hint of annoyance and sadness in her reply, starting to walk in the direction of Namimori Middle. Yamamoto and Gokudera look at each other in surprise only to run and catch up to her.

"Tsunari-sama!" Said girl saw her brunette friend running towards her, hand waving in greeting.

The sky smiled and waved back, "Hi, Haru-chan. Had any good cakes lately?" Haru opened her mouth to reply but was cut off. They turned back to see the two guardians who had caught up.

"You too, stupid woman, don't be so familiar with Juudaihime!"

Haru glared as Tsunari zeroed in on the light pink dusting on the girl's cheeks. "Hahi?! I am not stupid! And I have a name, it's Haru, desu."

"Hmph!" Gokudera roughly looked away, his own cheeks lightly dusted in that same, hurtful hue of pink. "Fine, I guess its baka-Haru?"

"Hahi!?"

Did she forget to mention that her feelings weren't the only thing developing these past few months? And of course, he would call _her_ by her first name. Even with his 'cruel nickname,' he was flirting with her just as she did him.

Tsunari felt something prickle in her eyes, tears she wouldn't let fall as she raced away from her friends towards the middle school, ignoring the raised eyebrow of surprise from Hibari at her punctuality.

She bit her lip. _Why?_ The brunette gently lifted the gold locket out of her skirt pocket, clicking it open to glance at the picture inside. _Am I wrong? Do I really not understand what this picture is showing? Or…_ It snapped shut as she harshly shoved it into her pocket, hearing the sound of running. Tsunari didn't need to turn around to know who it was, but she didn't stop walking to her classroom as the two of them reached her, their strides easily keeping pace with her longest.

Gokudera flinched as he glanced at her cold features, eyes staring ahead. "J-Juudaime what's wrong; did we do something?"

Yamamoto mirrored the concerned gesture, "Yeah, sorry if we did anything to offend you…"

"You didn't."

"But-"

Gokudera finished his sentence, "But I did?" He sounded like a kicked puppy.

Tsunari stopped abruptly, turning to him. "Yeah, you did. But it isn't your fault." _What the hell am I saying?_ "Just, **both** of you don't talk to me for the rest of the day, unless it's really important, life altering important." _This isn't like me. And yet, I want to be selfish like this. Why?_

And they didn't, for once listening to her orders until the end of school. When both approached her to walk home, she shook her head 'no.' Bag over shoulder like a boy, she left them both stunned not caring. Her golden honey eyes looked up at the sky, taking notice of the incoming clouds bringing rain. _How fitting._

She opened the door, flinging her bag off to the side and had a hand on her shoe before her mother's head popped out of the kitchen. "Ah, Tsu-chan! Welcome home, but we're out of cooking _sake_ and _tofu_ for dinner. Could you run to the market for me?"

Tsunari felt her intuition spike but ignored it, finding herself already nodding her head as her mother approached her with the money, placing it in her hand. "Thank-you Tsu-chan, hurry back now and bring an umbrella, it's about to rain!"

The mafia boss said nothing foregoing her mother's advice of an umbrella numbly and walking back out. The road was empty until she reached the main street, already seeing the bright red sign for _Miyamoto's Cooking Sake_. The bell clanged as she entered, alerting the cashier who flashed a bright smile, "Hello, what can I help you with."

Tsunari glanced side to side, looking for the familiar bottle before spotting it and grimacing. "Two of your _Amaiko-Koi_, please." Even the sound of the word rolling of her tongue left the muscle bitter. _Why would you name a wine 'sweet-heart love?'_

She reluctantly paid for the purchase, only to run into the source of her problems. "Gokudera-kun!? Why-" Tsunari's eyes widened in shock as Gokudera placed a hand over her mouth, putting a finger to his lips and pointing. Tsunari's eyes followed it to… to Haru who was walking away with a magnitude of groceries.

Gokudera jolted, seemingly aware of what he just did. "Many apologies-!" Tsunari returned the favor, her eyes never leaving Haru's retreating back who now seemed to be trying to open her umbrella and stop the starting droplets of water falling from the dark gray sky.

"Do you really like her?"

Gokudera looked down before staring straight at his boss, conviction in his voice. He wouldn't lie to his sky. "Yes, but I don't know what to do," he admitted. "And then there's you Juudaihime, if I go after her my attention will be split and… you might get hurt if I'm distracted."

Honey irises continued watching Haru struggle. "I can probably handle myself. You and the others won't be around forever." _Don't choke up now. _"And the future waits for nobody." The golden locket weighed like a brick in her pocket now. "Can you see her by your side ten, twenty, _fifty_ years from now?" _Why does your happiness have to mean so much to me?_

"Most definitely."

_Who am I to stop you then? _Tsunari turned her head smiling sadly, "Then follow your heart of the storm, Gokudera Hayato."

Gokudera hesitated a moment longer to make his resolution, "I'll talk to her then. Thank-you Juudaihime."

And he was off, running for his life, catching the fantasy he could see and turning it into reality.

***snap***

She could vaguely feel the short shock of electricity from her pocket, from _there_, and easily ignored it to. Walking away, not looking back, she felt the rain drench her. Her feet continued walking on the same road back, leaving behind all the market place's noise, people, _and pain._ Everything dimmed except for the screech of her house gate and click of her closing door.

"Dame-Tsunari."

It wasn't surprising to find him waiting for her, already aware of the situation.

"Is that how you're going to let it end? What about you're dying will?" Reborn chastised with his black orbs.

She smiled tightly. "He's happy."

"What about you?"

"…For now.'

Reborn's frown deepened. "When you're not?"

"He won't notice the difference." _I'll make sure of it._

"Why not change it? You know it's possible." He pointed to her pocket.

Tsunari bit her lip. She had a feeling and could take a good guess about _the damned thing that lied to her._ The Mafioso grabbed it and threw it at Reborn who easily caught it and started to walk away. "Because Reborn," she tilted her head back, crying finally, mirroring the weather outside. "_It already changed._"

She heard the locket click open and knew it was _empty, no picture._

Reborn sighed, rubbing his temples at his troublesome student. She was an idiot and a glutton for punishment and continuous pain. He told her this too as she made her way up the stairs.

Tsunari paused in her ascent, locking eyes on her tutor. "Yeah…?"

_She knew._


End file.
